Subscapularis
by misterreese
Summary: Jane gets shot and automatically assumes it was meant to happen.
1. Chapter 1

AN: My first Mentalist fanfiction, enjoy. :)

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It was a sweltering afternoon in Sacramento; air conditioners were on high and pools were crowded with families. It was a day to stay indoors as the thermometers went higher and the thermostats went lower. However, crime didn't stop for the heat and neither did the agents of the California Bureau of Investigation or its consultants.

After weeks of investigation, Lisbon and her team had finally tracked down the hide out belonging to Rob and Ryan Wilhelm. Two notorious robbers and murders that had escaped from prison over a month ago. It was a case that had taken the attention of CBI, one that had plenty of media coverage. People were scared knowing that these two men were on the loose and they depended on the agents of CBI to recapture the criminals and put them behind bars.

Rob and Ryan were careful to cover their tracks this time around, and the trail they did leave behind was anything but simple to follow. The investigation led them all over before realizing that the brothers were throwing them off track on purpose. In the end, it was Jane who discovered the clue needed to locate their hiding place. To him it seemed to easy, the Wilhelm's had been meticulous so as not be found. He believed the clue that led the CBI straight to the brothers was going to be a trap. Lisbon had convinced him otherwise. People became lazy and sloppy, it was only going be a matter of time until one of them slipped up, and that time was now. After using the credit card information that Van Pelt had gathered, once Jane informed her that she should search under previous aliases and possible alternate names used by the brothers, the agents suited up, loaded into their SUVs, and headed for their destination.

The drive went by quickly; Jane sat in the passenger seat of the car Lisbon was driving and Van Pelt was in the back seat securing the Velcro of her bullet proof vest. Rigsby and Cho were in a separate car right behind their boss. Several other agents of the CBI and local law enforcement officers were in pursuit, this was a big bust and everyone wanted to be involved.

Lisbon swiftly pulled up to the curb and threw the car in park. Within the blink of an eye the lead agent was out of the car and grouping with the other officers. Jane stayed in his seat and watched as the agents draw their weapons and readied themselves for the invasion. He knew very well that he wasn't an agent, detective or any sort of police officer and had no business being on the front line with the trained agents trying to execute their job with no interference. That didn't mean he had to stay in the car.

Hopping down from his seat, Jane left the door open to the vehicle like the others had done. At this point the agents were slowly making their way across the yard to surround the house. Jane watched from afar, observing as some of the local officers went around to the rear of the property. Knowing to keep out of the line of fire, the consultant found a tree to take cover behind. Jane peered out from between the split in the trunk. The CBI agents were almost in position to take the house.

Jane watched the agents intently, the uniform manner in which they moved was slightly mesmerizing. His attention was broken by a sudden flash of light in his eyes, Jane squinted against the abrupt brightness. He shaded his eyes as he looked around for the light source. The tree he was behind provided more than enough shade from the intense California sun. Jane furrowed his brow in confusion, his eyes wondered to the top of the tree and he figured a breeze must have moved the leaves allowing a ray of light through. Repositioning himself for a better view of the front door, the consultant waited for the agents to enter the home.

It seemed that everyone was ready to go, what was stalling them, Jane didn't know. With a quick sigh through his nose, Jane scanned his surroundings once more. It was then that his peripheral vision caught the source of the light from earlier. On his chest was a small, glowing red dot. Quickly his eyes flicked upwards, his line of sight locked with a sniper on the roof of the house that the CBI was about to break into. Jane didn't let himself think. He started scrambling from his spot, anywhere to get the laser point off of his person. He couldn't move fast enough, and the next thing he knew there was a pain in his shoulder as if someone was pouring molten iron into his skin. Grabbing the injured area he crashed against the side of the tree and slid to the grass.

Blood was already starting to seep through his fingers, staining his suit and skin red. Jane looked towards the house. At the moment that sniper fired his rifle, the agents had forcibly entered the home. The sound that was created from the door giving way and the officers shouting as they worked their way through the house covered any sound that the silenced gun might have created. The shot went completely unnoticed by everyone except Jane.

After the agents swept threw the house, they came to the disappointing realization that there was no one there and, more than likely, never had been. With their weapons lowered and their guards down they all filtered out of the house and back towards their cars. Lisbon reached around her side to peel off the Velcro to remove her vest and then holstered her weapon. As she neared the car she saw that the passenger side door was open and Jane was no longer inside. Lisbon tossed the vest into the back seat and did a quick scan of the surrounding area for her consultant.

Lisbon pursed her lips when she didn't spot his blonde curls right away. "Hey, Cho, have you seen Jane?" She asked her agent.

"No." Cho's reply was short but to the point, like usual.

Lisbon turned on her heel to search the surrounding area. Jane couldn't have gone far. He was very excited for this of bust, especially when he'd been the one to lead the team there. In fact, as Lisbon thought about it, she realized that Jane hadn't come into the house after it had been cleared.

"Has anyone seen Jane?" She asked loud enough for everyone to hear. The agents and officers around her shook their heads. They appeared to be making an effort to locate him, but they were all disappointed from the failed raid. Rigsby and Van Pelt looked around the area, but Lisbon could tell that they just wanted to head back to headquarters.

"Jane!" Lisbon called as she walked down the street a bit. She hadn't the faintest idea where he would have wondered off to. She didn't even know where to start looking for him. She called out his name once more. By now he should have called back or randomly appeared behind her.

Lisbon stopped and put her hands on her hips, she wanted to get out of this ridiculous heat, but she couldn't do that when Jane was playing hide and seek. "Damn it, Jane." She said out loud, even thought there was no one in ear shot to hear her.

"Of course he would disappear the one time he was wrong about something." Lisbon muttered as she turned around to head back towards the SUV, a part of her was tempted to leave him behind. Jane was an adult. He could make his way back to work. It wasn't like he hadn't just abandoned her a few times before. The senior agent started walking back towards the car when she caught a glimpse of Jane's golden hair. He had been sitting on the ground against a tree, he appeared to be napping. Lisbon rolled her eyes as she walked through the yard towards the consultant.

"Well there you are." She said as she approached him. When he didn't respond she assumed he was actually sleeping, but as Lisbon came closer she realized how wrong she was.

"Jane!" She yelled and ran the last few yards that was between them. Lisbon crashed to her knees and immediately felt for a pulse, she found one but it was weak. "Officer down!" Lisbon shouted, getting the attention of several other agents in the area. "Rigsby, call 911, Jane's been shot!"

Rigsby almost instantly had his phone out and was talking to an operator. Lisbon looked Jane over. His hand had fallen away from the wound, showing the bullet hole in his shoulder. Blood was still slowly trickling from the injury. Lisbon pressed her hands against the wound to apply pressure.

"Jane, can you hear me? Jane!" She said his name over, she wanted his eyes to open. If she could get him to wake up now she could get him to stay awake, at least until the paramedics arrived. "God, Jane!" Lisbon shouted as she continued to press against his shoulder. She heard Rigsby call to her, the ambulance would arrive in five minutes. "Wake up, Jane!" She was pleading at this point. She wouldn't let him die.

Seconds passed and Jane's eyelids started to flutter. Slowly they opened and he was staring straight at Lisbon. He swallowed and with his uninjured arm motioned for Lisbon to come closer. She leaned in, leaving only six inches between their faces.  
"You don't have to yell, I'm right here." Jane said weakly as he let his head fall against the trunk of the tree. Lisbon's worried expression disappeared from her face and was replaced with one of annoyance.

"What the hell happened?" Lisbon demanded. She moved backwards but made sure to not let up on the weight she had on his shoulder.

Jane shook his head against the bark. "Well," he paused as he gathered the strength to talk. "I'm going to do something I don't normally do: make a completely uneducated guess. I'm going to have to say I was shot." His voice was stronger now.

Lisbon glared at Jane and huffed. "That's not what I meant. I mean, how did it happen?"

"I believe with a gun." Jane quipped. Lisbon's jaw clenched, she almost considered removing her hands and cancelling the call to the ambulance.

"Damn it, Jane," Lisbon took a deep breath to calm herself. "I _mean_, do you know what happened? Why?" She asked, keeping her voice even.

"Oh, yes. I know what happened. I saw the whole thing." Jane said as he blinked lazily. Lisbon made a face as to indicate that she was waiting for his reply. "But I'm not going to tell you right now." Lisbon's expression went blank again.

"And why not?" She asked, not sure if she wanted to know the answer.

"Because I'm going to pass out. I'll tell you later."

Jane's eyes slid shut once more as the ambulance pulled up to the scene. Lisbon couldn't help but to shake her head.

"Over here!" She called to the paramedics that had jumped out of the ambulance. Within minutes they had come to Jane's aid, taken over for Lisbon, strapped him down and lifted him into the back of the ambulance and off to the hospital. Rigsby, Cho and Van Pelt came to stand behind their boss.

"Is he going to be okay?" Van Pelt asked, the worry obvious in her voice.

Lisbon nodded her head slowly as she watched the ambulance speed away. "Oh, oh, he'll be just fine. I promise." There was a hint of annoyance in her voice that the team picked up on, but no one questioned. "Let's get washed up and back to work." Lisbon said as she wiped her hands on a towel that paramedics left with her and started for their cars. Their case had just become a lot more complicated.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Thanks for all the reviews, enjoy the second chapter!

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The trip back to the CBI seemed to take longer than the one to the false hideout. Van Pelt took the passenger seat in Lisbon's car. Not a single word was uttered the whole way. The team unloaded and returned to their desks, Lisbon hung around in the door way to the bullpen as her agents stripped off their weapons and outer layers of clothes. It was quiet. The team knew, as did the rest of the CBI, that there was someone missing. If Jane had been here with them, he would have been spouting off reasons why the Wilhelm brothers weren't at the hideout. Lisbon wished he was here. She wanted his insight as to why the criminals weren't where they obviously should have been.

"Rigsby, Cho, go back over the evidence and see if there is anything we missed. Van Pelt, check those records again. We'll find these bastards." Lisbon instructed her team. They all nodded slowly in unison. They wanted to catch the Wilhelms as much as she did and the only way that was going to happen was if they got back to work.

Lisbon headed for her office and closed the door behind her. Her whole day was thrown. Jane getting shot was the last thing she'd expected to happen and it had put her out of sorts. Taking a seat behind her desk, Lisbon looked at her black computer screen. She wanted to focus on the case. She knew that Jane was in capable hands and she didn't need to worry, but that didn't stop her.

Picking up the phone she dialed the number to the hospital that Jane had been taken to, and after a few rings a nurse picked up. "Hi, this is Agent Teresa Lisbon with the CBI. One of our employees was shot and taken to your ER about an hour ago. I was hoping to check his status. His name is Jane, Patrick Jane." she said as she leaned back in her seat. The nurse on the other end put her on hold, a light music played as she waited for the woman to come back on the line. A few minutes passed and the nurse returned.

"Agent Lisbon?" The nurse asked, making sure she was still there. Lisbon responded to let her know she was still waiting. "Mr. Jane is currently in surgery, I've been informed that the operation will be about another three hours."

Lisbon nodded her head, even though the gesture was pointless. "Thank you." She said finally. "Have a nice day," She added. The nurse thanked her in return before ending the call. The senior agent returned the phone to its receiver. Her brow knitted together, and she wondered what happened to cause the surgery to take over three hours. When Lisbon found Jane she'd noted that the bullet had gone straight through, there had been an exit wound on his back. What ever the surgery entailed, it wasn't removing a bullet. Lisbon glanced at the clock on the wall. It was almost four in the afternoon. Jane wouldn't be out of surgery until almost seven.

Lisbon's attempt at busy work failed. Every time she went to fill out a form or reply to an E-mail she found herself looking at the clock. Every minute ticked by at an excruciatingly slow pace. When she checked the clock for the last time, the hands pointed out that it was ten till six. Lisbon gave up. She turned off her computer and put away the files she was attempting to work on. After gathering her personal belongs she exited her office and stopped by the bullpen.

"Let's call it a day guys. It's been a long one," she said to her team, who were still working away. They all smiled weakly. It was obvious the day's events had been preoccupying their minds as well.

"Any word on Jane?" Rigsby asked as he stretched in his seat.

"When I called a few hours ago, he was still in surgery. The nurse said he'd be out around seven or so." Automatically the team checked the near by clock. "I'm going to head over to the hospital now. I'll text updates." Lisbon said before turning to leave the building. The team called out their goodbyes before busying themselves with packing up to head home.

"Ms. Lisbon?" a firm, yet soft male voice said from above. "Ms. Lisbon?" the voice repeated, but this time a nudge to the shoulder followed. The senior CBI agent startled herself awake and quickly looked upwards. She was greeted by the light smile of a middle aged, balding doctor.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I must have fallen asleep." Lisbon said as she uncurled herself from the seat she'd wedged herself into. She rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands. "What time is it?" It was the first question that came to her mind.

"A little after eight." The doctor informed her. Lisbon quickly looked to a clock on the wall. She'd been asleep longer than she'd intended. She knew Jane was supposed to have been out of surgery over an hour ago. The doctor could tell that Lisbon was obviously upset by the time. "Mr. Jane is alright. He got out of surgery an hour ago, but you wouldn't have been able to see him until now anyway." He added, hoping that was the answer she wanted.

Lisbon nodded. It was what she wanted to hear. "Thank you. Which room is he in?" she asked as she got to her feet. The doctor pointed down the hallway and informed her that he was in recovery room eight. "Thank you." Lisbon replied with a half-smile as she picked up her jacket. The doctor nodded in returned and started heading off in the other direction. "Oh, doctor, I have one question." She called to him.

The older man turned back to face her and nodded. "Of course, what is it?" He asked, the doctor rearranged a large folder he had with him under his arm.

"I was wondering what happened that caused the surgery to be almost four hours long? I have dealt with my fair share of gun shot wounds, and Jane didn't even have a bullet to be removed. What took so long?" It was a fair question and the doctor knew she deserved an answer.

"Well, when Mr. Jane came into the ER the one of the first things we did after stabilizing him was taking an x-ray of the injured area," The doctor pulled a large folder out from under his arm, thumbed through some papers inside, and then pulled out the negative to Jane's x-ray. He held it up to the light for he and Lisbon to look at. "You can see very obviously where the bullet entered and exited." He set the folder down on a nearby table and then pointed to the joint in Jane's shoulder. "Do you see all these bright white fragments floating around?" He asked, Lisbon nodded. "Okay, well, all of that is bone."

Lisbon's eyebrows raised a bit as the doctor laid the x-ray down on top of the folder. "Luckily for Mr. Jane, the bullet hit him in a one of the most non-life threatening areas. Unfortunately, it went through the joint in his shoulder, exactly where the socket meets the head of the humerus. For lack of a better term, the bullet destroyed the joint." Lisbon's mouth gaped a bit, and she made a face for the doctor to go on.

"The first thing we had to do in surgery was remove all the free-floating bone in the area. Once that was finished we had to decide to either save what was there or replace everything. The damage was so severe that we decided his quality of life would be greatly improved with a complete shoulder replacement."

A smile crept on to Lisbon's lips, but it was one that conveyed more disbelief than joy. "I didn't even know that was possible." She said, thinking about what it would take to replace a person's shoulder.

"Oh it is very possible and easy, the surgery normally takes about two hours, but since we had to remove a lot of damaged bone, tendon and other ligaments it took longer to complete." The doctor gathered his things. "Any other questions?"  
Lisbon was still contemplating the implications of having a whole shoulder removed and an artificial one put in its place. "Yes, does he know all this?" Lisbon was hoping that she wouldn't have to be the one to explain to Jane what had happened.

"He does. We went over the basics. Tomorrow a nurse will explain to him how to care for his shoulder, how long recovery will be, and when physical therapy will start. Things of that nature."

After she thanked the doctor, he wished her a good night before disappearing behind an employees only door. Lisbon rubbed her neck as she went down the hallway toward Jane's room. She glanced from side to side, odd room numbers on the left even on the right. Lisbon counted the numbers in her head before coming to room number eight. She stopped before going in. Her hesitation was baseless, but something in the back of her mind was telling her to just come back in the morning.

Lisbon shook the thought from her head and knocked twice before opening the door. The room was dark, except for the few fluorescent lights behind Jane's bed. Lisbon kept quite when she saw that his eyes were closed. She didn't know if he was sleeping or not, but she didn't want to wake him if he was. Other than the fact that his left arm was strapped to his abdomen and there was a slight bruise visible on his neck where his bandages ended, the worst thing about him was that his hair was a disheveled mess. Lisbon couldn't help but to think that he actually looked rather cozy propped up against his pillows.

She took the seat next to his bed, sitting on the edge of the chair. Lisbon stared at him for a moment before saying anything. "Jane?" She asked, hoping that would be all it took to wake him up. When he didn't respond, she said his name a little bit louder. "Hey, Jane." Obviously she didn't want to yell, but at the same time she hadn't come all this way just to watch him sleep. Lisbon stood from the seat and put her hands on the plastic railing. "Jane, wake up." Her mind flashed back to earlier in the day; as if were happening again, she could see herself with her hands pressed against Jane's bleeding shoulder, begging for him to wake up. Lost in the memory she hadn't realized that he was awake.

"Well look who it is," Jane said, his voice was soft again, but from exhaustion instead of blood loss. Lisbon jumped a bit. She hadn't expected him to say anything.

"Jesus, Jane!" Lisbon said, a little too loudly as she took a deep breath.

"It's nice to see you to," he replied with one of his carefree smiles. Lisbon stared back at him, but she couldn't be angry. There was no reason to be. And the fact that he'd been shot and had a complete shoulder replacement and was smiling, like always, she couldn't have stayed angry if she'd tried.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, pulling up the chair she was sitting in earlier to take a seat once again.

"Meh, I've been better." Lisbon didn't expect him to say that he was completely okay, but she did expect something of a more cheerful answer. "Did the doctors tell you what happened?" Jane asked as he very slowly tried to sit up. Lisbon was immediately on her feet to offer her assistance, but with his good arm, Jane waved her away.

"I did speak with your doctor, yes. He informed me of the whole surgery." She said watching him to make sure that he wouldn't need her help. Lisbon stayed on guard until Jane had situated himself and leaned back into his pillows.  
"Pretty neat, huh? I'm like…" Jane trailed off as he thought for a moment. "One thirty-sixths Wolverine, now."

Lisbon rolled her eyes and scoffed a laugh. Same Jane, that would never change. "So, earlier you were going to tell me something, but decided to take a nap instead." The senior agent figured it was as a good as time as any to hear Jane's story about how he got shot.

Jane nodded slowly. "Right. What was I going to tell you?" Even though he knew very well what Lisbon wanted to know, it was more fun to make things difficult.

"How you got shot," Lisbon said, going along with Jane. "And if you say with a gun I might actually hurt you." She added, giving him a look that indicated she meant it.

Jane smirked a bit. "Well, I am pretty sure that is how it happened." Lisbon stared at him with a not amused look. "Logistically, while I was taking cover behind a tree watching you guys prepare your raid, I took the time to observe the surrounding areas. That's when I noticed a sniper on the roof of the house," Jane paused for effect. "I tried to move anywhere to get the red dot off of me, but obviously I didn't move fast enough."

The senior agent leaned back into her seat and continued to stare at her consultant. "A sniper? Shot you?"

"Yes, right here." Jane said using his good arm to point to his injured shoulder.

"Why would a sniper shoot you?" Lisbon asked with a smile; the idea was rather amusing.

"I don't know. Isn't it your job to figure that out?" Jane asked, slightly annoyed with Lisbon's rather careless attitude.

"It just doesn't make any sense, why would you be targeted by a sniper?"

Jane made a face that indicated he didn't have any idea. "Maybe because I was the one that caught the Wilhelm brothers in the first place? Perhaps they figured if I was out of the picture, they would have a better chance of not getting caught." Lisbon chuckled at his comment.

"That's one theory. Or maybe the Wilhelms were trying to create a distraction so they could escape the hideout." Lisbon offered. There had to be a more reasonable explanation.

Jane nodded once. "If that is so, then why did the shooter wait until you guys had already entered the house to shoot me?" It was a fair point, but Lisbon pondered other ideas.

"Okay, maybe it was Rob and Ryan trying to get back at the CBI, attack the agents to cause a distraction."

"Also plausible, except why would the sniper shoot the one person who wasn't wearing anything that indicated they were affiliated with the CBI? And why would the sniper be on the roof of the house you guys were entering, instead of one on the opposite street? _And _wouldn't there be more efficient ways to attack CBI agents other than a singular sniper?" Jane could have spouted off more reasons, but Lisbon cut him off.

"Okay, so you are saying that this was all because of you?" Lisbon wasn't sure why she was being so disinclined to believe that Jane had been the intended target. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew the answer. She didn't want to believe that there was someone who wanted to kill Jane.

"Yes, that is what I am saying." Jane said, hopeful that Lisbon was starting to see things from his point of view.

Lisbon smiled again, indicating to Jane that she didn't believe him. "I think this is going to your head," she said, standing from her seat.

"Right, because I'm flattered that someone tried to kill me," Jane said sarcastically.

"Tell you what, I'll be back tomorrow morning and we'll go over the details then," she said as she slipped her jacket up over her shoulders. "Until then, get some sleep."

Jane was visibly pouting. "You get some sleep," he retorted.

"Good night, Jane." Lisbon said before she left his hospital room.

Jane sank further into his pillows and stared at the ceiling. "I don't know why it's impossible for her to believe someone would want to kill me," he said out loud to himself. "I'm almost certain she wanted to take an attempt herself just then." As he stared off into space a nurse entered his room.

"How are we doing tonight, Mr. Jane?" The young woman asked as she picked up his chart from the end of his bed.

He smiled. "Oh, just fine. Except for the fact that someone wants me dead and my partner doesn't believe me."

The nurse smiled nervously and breathed a laugh. Jane continued to grin at the nurse until she walked to his bed side and took his IV line in her hand. "I'm just going to give you something to help you sleep, okay?" Before Jane could protest, the nurse had removed a syringe from her pocket and injected the contents into the plastic tube.


End file.
